States sign agreement on uranium

The New South Wales and South Australian governments have signed an agreement to encourage mining and exploration along the border of the two states.

The memorandum of understanding was signed at a uranium mining conference in Darwin yesterday.

Uranium exploration has only recently been allowed in NSW, while it is already being mined at Honeymoon and Beverley over the border.

NSW Resources Minister Chris Hartcher says the agreement could make mining easier down the track.

"It's not going to happen tomorrow but we want to lay the groundwork at a government level to actually get the cooperative agreement that everyone would expect," he said.

"I think one thing that people are sick and tired of from politicians is bickering.

"They want to see politicians whether they're Liberal, Labor or National all working together and we are."

Mr Hartcher says the agreement does not open the door to uranium mining in NSW.

"All that the government is doing now is allowing exploration in NSW, but the fact that there are 39 expressions of interest shows that there is a great deal of interest in exploration and then if commercial deposits are discovered and they can be accessed in an environmentally-sensitive way then surely those companies can then make their submissions to the government," he said.

Expressions of interest for uranium exploration closed in November last year.

Mr Hartcher says the delay in issuing licences is to make sure there is probity in the system following mining-related matters appearing in the ICAC.